The origins of the Saint Gertrude’s Abbey in Leuven dates back to a 12-century chapel that was transformed by Duke Henry I in 1206 to a priory for Augustinian cannons. The new church of the priory, that was built soon after 1206, became the parish chuch of the newly founded Saint Gertrude’s parish – one of the parishes in the inner city of Leuven that split from the main Saint Peter’s parish. Thanks to the financial support of Duke John I in 1298, the parish was further built up and its property enlarged to both banks of the River Dijle. Important but unidentified construction work was described by its Parish Priest Godefroid d’Udekem (1307-1320) and a large part of reconstruction took place after a fire in 1326. Read more

Recently, Google celebrated 20 years of Google Search, and I attended its anniversary event in Brussels. The event was jointly organised with Edima, ESBA, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Allied for Startups.

What was not advertised about the event but of huge interest to SEO experts around the world, was the presentation by Pandu Nayak, Google Fellow and Vice President of Search. As part of Google’s core Search leadership team, Pandu Nayak is in charge of ranking.

Mr Nayak gave a peak of what is to be expected of Google Search and search ranking that will ultimately change much of what we now do for search engine optimisation. Read more

De collegiale Sint-Pieterskerk is a Roman Catholitc church in Leuven, built in the Brabant Gothic style. Many well-known Late-Gothic masters were involved in its building, in the course of the 15th century, including Sulpitius van Vorst, Jan II Keldermans and Matthijs de Layens. Until the 17th century, the church still remained unfinished; two western towers never reached their full intended height. It was due to the patronage of the Apostle Peter, at the Saint Peter’s Church, that Leuven inhabitants earned the nickname of Peetermannen. (Source) Read more

The word “content” has become so ubiquitous these days, that it somehow sounds so platitudinous and lack of meaning. “Content” used to mean anything you put into an empty vessel, or anything that fills up the void in a container, such a jug or a tank. “Content” used to mean something positive too, such as a great piece of writing, that is imbued with wit, creativity, reflection, purpose or admirable aspirations. Read more

With digital channels, it is now possible to measure the impact of your communications in quantifiable terms. The impact of course means whether your target audience has read your content, whether they have passed it on to someone else, whether they have acted on the information by issuing a reaction whether positive or negative.

When it comes to online reputation management, my clients often ask me why I recommend a corporate blog. It is time consuming to put an editorial process in place. Some sectors do not have many things to say or comment on. Other sectors are simply more quiet about their line of business. Often, it is a question of internal resources for both content production and content verification. Read more